Reviews (2)

This is not an easy course. You have to be on the ball from day one or you will fall behind very quickly. Keeping this in mind though, the tutors were pretty good and you will learn a lot from this course. It really is the first difficult design you do in the degree and a real insight to a project. The more you put in the more you learn.

I completed this subject in 2011. Out of all the subjects I have done, I probably learnt the most practical things than any other subject. From circuit design to PID control and the problems encountered with actually putting all this together, it gave me an appreciation of the difficulty in real engineering design. Peter Jacobs was the lecturer when I did it.

Our project was using a hanging 'satellite' that had a flywheel counterweight to rotate the casing around it. On the casing was a laser pointer and IR sensors. The IR transmitters were on a visible target. The goal was to shoot the laser onto the visible target. The project grade was decided on the accuracy and speed of the laser shots, as well as design and build quality. The flywheel and all the electronics involved were the team's design.

The subject took a LOT of time out of my schedule. The last few days before the project was due, there were people sleeping in the labs overnight (bringing sleeping bags), so that they could spend all of their waking hours finishing the project.

We had weekly meetings as a team (of four) with a tutor, who would make sure we were on track, and subtly helped us with design problems.

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